Earlier this year, federal authorities announced that a 43-year-old Utah man had been sentenced to seven years in prison for attempting to hire a hit man online. What makes the case especially unusual are the particulars about Christopher Pence and his motives, as laid out in detail in New York magazine. For starters, Pence is a devout evangelical Christian, a Microsoft engineer, and the father of 16. Eleven of those 16 are his biological children with wife Michelle, and the other five were adopted from a young couple in Massachusetts. And it was that young couple—Christina and Francisco Cordero—that Pence sought to have murdered. The reason? He and Michelle thought the Corderos weren't honoring their part of the adoption agreement that limited their contact with their five children. In Pence's view, "the Corderos had been pushing it," writes James D. Walsh.
Even as the Pences reached out to their pastor in Cedar City for advice, Christopher was exploring other options on the dark web. He came across a murder-for-hire site—it was actually a scam run out of Romania—and shelled out $16,000 in bitcoin for the double hit. "I'm wondering if a mugging-gone-wrong might be an option," Pence wrote. "Or maybe you have another suggestion?" The Corderos were never harmed. Acting on information turned over to them by a British hacker, the FBI raided the Pence residence and arrested the "unfailingly polite" Christopher, writes Walsh. The story explores the backgrounds of both couples—including the unusual initial transfer of custody of the five children while the Pences were on a family road trip—as well as the arrest's aftermath. Michelle continues to raise all 16 children, but on her own now. Read the full story. (Or read other Longform recaps.)
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